PATIENCE, long-suffering — literally 'long-temperedness' (makros, 'long', + thymos, 'anger, passion'): the disposition that holds anger far off, slow to be provoked. ⚠ It renders the Old Testament's picture of God as 'slow to anger' (Exodus 34:6), and the New Testament makes it a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and a facet of love ('love is patient', 1 Corinthians 13:4). At 1 Timothy 1:16 it is God's toward the chief of sinners: Paul is shown mercy 'so that in me foremost Christ might display all his patience, as a pattern' — the worst case made the measure of how long God's temper runs. Distinct from hypomonē, 'endurance', which bears up under things; makrothymia bears long with people. Its verb opens the love chapter: 1 Corinthians 13:4's makrothymeī is not 'love is patient' but 'love waits long' — a verb, and the first of fifteen. → first discussed at 1 Timothy 1:16